For example, Australian and United Kingdom
courts are seen as favorable for libel suits due to the difference
in laws and free speech rights. Accordingly, in December of 2002,
when the Australian high court ruled that the Australian-based
mining entrepreneur, Joe Gutnick, could sue the American multimedia
company, Dow Jones, in the Australian state of Victoria over an
article published on its WSJ.com website, this was seen by many in
the American media and free speech supporters as a defeat. The
WSJ.com website is posted in New Jersey, and Dow Jones attempted to
get this suit transferred to New Jersey on this basis.

Determining jurisdiction is not an easy task in
the global community, especially when applicable laws are
conflicting. But applying the law or even determining what the law
is can be difficult, regardless of jurisdiction, as will be shown in
the next section.

Real-World Case: Web
Deception

In 2004, during a Google search on a familiar
subject, one savvy Internet user noted an unfamiliar website in the
Google results. When he clicked on the link, he was taken to a web
page that shocked him.

The site was offering an article that he had
read before, on another website, but it looked as if the article had
moved.